I won't mince words. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "regulatory reform" that includes "repeal, replacement, or modification" of safeguards is anything but reform. It is a frontal assault on decades of basic protections that ensure wildlife and habitat have the clean air and healthy waters they need to survive and thrive.

Rolling back basic environmental protections would be devastating for wildlife and the outdoors. We can't afford more toxic mercury in our air and water that will compromise loons' ability to thrive, more paved over wetlands that destroy crucial aquatic habitats, or unchecked climate pollution driving higher temperatures that fuel more devastating forest fires and tick infestations in moose. Almost five decades worth of bi-partisan protections supported by Republican and Democratic administrations, based on laws passed overwhelmingly in Congress, are at risk.

Without strong protections for clean air and clean water and a safer climate, the rivers, lakes, streams, mountains, coasts, plains and climate that we and wildlife depend on will suffer. The Environmental Protection Agency intends to bow to industry pressure and rollback or remove many of these protections.

Under both Republican and Democratic Presidents, protective rules were crafted—based on sound science and well vetted, transparent processes—to keep wildlife like loons and thousands of others safe from pollution and habitat degradation.

Virtually all evidence suggests that the benefits of these protections outweigh the costs, often vastly. Moreover, the benefits accrue broadly to the public, keeping people healthier, protecting wildlife and enabling everyone to better enjoy our abundant natural resources.

Friday, February 10, 2017

At 1.88 million acres, Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is larger than the combined footprints of the state's "Mighty 5" national parks and Cedar Breaks National Monument.That's too big, according to a resolution approved Wednesday by the Utah Senate after passage last week in the House.HCR12 calls on Utah's federal delegation to support a reduction or modification of the monument, which was created by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996.

In the United States, more people were employed in solar power last year than in generating electricity through coal, gas and oil energy combined. According to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy, solar power employed 43 percent of the Electric Power Generation sector's workforce in 2016, while fossil fuels combined accounted for just 22 percent. It's a welcome statistic for those seeking to refute Donald Trump's assertion that green energy projects are bad news for the American economy.

Just under 374,000 people were employed in solar energy, according to the report, while coal, gas and oil power generation combined had a workforce of slightly more than 187,000. The boom in the country's solar workforce can be attributed to construction work associated with expanding generation capacity. The gulf in employment is growing with net generation from coal falling 53 percent over the last decade. During the same period, electricity generation from natural gas increased 33 percent while solar expanded 5,000 percent.